We would meet ‘on board’ my ship, with everyone able to see and hear everyone else, even Helium. It took a while, but eventually, I managed to explain to the ship what I wanted, and it separated out and individually packaged a bunch of little self-powered holo-scanner transmitters. Nor could we afford to put Chee on the bridge with Helium-not if there was any chance of a combat situation developing. Helium couldn’t afford to leave the bridge of the flagship, and while Telor and Terra were perfectly happy to send ambassadors over to the fleet, I wasn’t willing to leave the safety of the New Day’s Dawn. There were also preparations to be made for the actual council meeting, mostly in the form of hologram links that needed to be set up. To give them evidence that we weren’t their enemies-at least, not exactly. Just enough, hopefully, to get the rebels to stop being stupid. They were too small to count as anything like manipulation or mind-control-not that I would have necessarily balked at that, at this point. There were the twelve shards of Terra, sealed in simple containers provided by the ship and tucked away into Jake’s morph, to be delivered to each of the mutinous coalescions. So far, the invaders hadn’t taken the bait, but at some point, they were bound to launch a raiding party, and we would have maybe half an hour of warning before they came in range.īut still, there were things to do, and those things took time, and there wasn’t any point in not taking the time, just because there was a chance we’d have to scrap everything and run.
Not just because of the ongoing holocaust down below-Jake had explained the Visser’s little negotiating tactic, how he’d alerted the Howlers to our presence to try to force the conversation to a close. We were on the clock, and we all knew it. “Just-Yeerk pools communicate by swapping shards, right?” “With all you have done for us-you have only to say the word.” “Anything,” she said smoothly, her eyes brightening with gratitude. Terra’s human go-between wasn’t doing it on purpose. Feelings I wasn’t used to minding, my usual response to refinement being more like defiant contempt. It was always like this, talking to Terra’s-what, mouthpiece? Ambassador? “I need a favor,” I said, and then winced. I felt the gravitational pull of a whole other conversation- there will be a planet that works, somewhere-decided to sidestep it. Her lip twisted-still gentle, but with a kind of quiet, sad self-awareness.
Already our chamber feels more like a home.” She is slow to understand, but eager to help. “We have been learning how to-collaborate-with the ship’s computer. “Hello, Tobias,” she said, her voice soft and gentle. The woman’s face shimmered into visibility.
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